The alternative American rock band REM once had a hit with the song Shiny Happy People. That song would be the perfect anthem for Karl and Ros French, the founders of Metallic Elephant. Working out of a secluded set of farm buildings in the village of Frating in Essex, this husband-and-wife team along with their employees have become the benchmark when it comes to the manufacturing of hot foil presses. Producing these machines along with the supply of associated equipment allows everybody from greetings card manufacturers at home to multi-national corporations to emboss and deboss a wide range of materials to, as the partnership say in their words, “make it shiny”.
Having been introduced to engineering by a teacher at school, Karl embarked on a career where his desire to learn as much as he could led him to be effectively running the business he was employed at. Upon Ros’s suggestion, they decided to go it alone and began the journey of Metallic Elephant by firstly refurbishing presses which operate by having a die, usually manufactured from brass but can be produced in magnesium, heated to between 90- and 110-degrees Celsius pushing against coloured foil and a backing material up to a back plate for a few seconds. When released the result is the coloured shiny initials or logo of the die being left embossed or debossed on the backing material.
